Where the Lines Overlap
by LogicBomb.32
Summary: And it is the last of these three that force her up the stairs, one agonizing level after the next because she knows that the pain she feels now will be nothing compared to that of losing Alexis. Castle as she knows him will never be the same.
1. Toeing that Line

**Title: Where the Lines Overlap **

**Author: LogicBomb.32**

**Ships: Caskett **

**Summary: And it is the last of these three that force her up the stairs, one agonizing level after the next because she knows that the pain she feels now will be nothing compared to that of losing Alexis. Castle as she knows him will never be the same.**

**Authors Note: Had a crappy weekend and as a result I buried myself in my room listening to Two Steps From Hell (essentially the most epic music **_**everrrrr**_**) and this was the result.**

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><p>Her lungs burn.<p>

Her thighs are screaming.

Her heart is breaking.

And it is the last of these three that force her up the stairs, one agonizing level after the next because she knows that the pain she feels now will be nothing compared to that of losing Alexis. She knows that if she fails in this task that everything she knows about her life will be destroyed. Castle as she knows him will never be the same, he will cease to exist but as a hollow shell of himself and it's a sure bet that he will never return to the precinct.

And so she keeps running, only her harsh breathing and the last words Castle had spoken echoing in her ears.

_Bring her back to me._

And it was one of those promises that Kate Beckett could not, would not break, especially not a promise made to Castle. She had long ago admitted to herself that she was in love with the man, it was a matter of admitting it to the rest of the world part that she had a problem with. Admitting it to herself was one thing, but to bring the rest of the world in on her dark secret, that meant that it was real. Real love. Real happiness. Real heartbreak.

Could she bring herself to risk it all?

Maybe. But right now it didn't matter because if she didn't bring Alexis Castle back to her partner alive and well…

"_I can't lose her Kate." He whispers, his voice barely above a whisper as he looks up at her. _

_He looks helpless, utterly lost as, not for the first time, he finds himself one the other side of the table, paralyzed by emotions he has never felt before. And Kate too finds herself in a new place, a place where Castle is broken one and she is the one who needs to be strong, strong for him and for his daughter. _

_She fought long and hard for the right to take this case, screwing personal conflicts and feelings Beckett had told her Captain "I don't give a damn that there's personal conflict sir." She doesn't even stop to breath, just continues on her rant "They took one of our own and there's no one better to beat this sicko at the game he want's to play then the people standing out there right now." _

_It had gone against Gates better judgment but the detective had fire in her eyes and Castle on her mind, so the captain conceded, but with a warning "There is a line Detective, remember that."_

"_Yes sir." Beckett replied, already walking out the door, but she paused, one hand resting on the frame "Thank you." _

Her hand was curled around the grip of her gun, as they came to a stop outside the fourth level of an old meat packing plant. She glanced back at Esposito and Ryan, both of them decked out in Kevlar and Esposito armed with a shotgun. She met their gazes and knew that they were in the same place she was, toeing that line she had been reminded of. This was Alexis they were talking about, but she was still an officer of the law, bound to serve and protect, not exact revenge.

She placed her hand on the door, knowing that it was unlocked, and gave it a small push. It swung open and a wave of ice cold air hit her, reminding her what exactly was at stake. Taking a step inside, gun leveled at shadows Beckett held her breath and scanned the darkness, hoping for a sign.

And she got one.

An explosion of gunfire forced her to the ground and the searing pain of bullet tearing through flesh almost sent her into a flashback. But as she struggled to keep herself together, she thought of Castle, the helpless look in his eyes and the heartbreak that would overcome him, it grounded her. Pushing herself sideways, behind a pillar, Beckett saw Esposito and Ryan crouching in similar places.

Her arm was throbbing, but from a quick glance down the detective knew that it wasn't more than a scratch. They needed to move or else this sicko would once again get away from them. Slipping through the cracks was what he did, kidnapping was more of a sick game that he played. Both for money and for pleasure, so it seemed and the fact that Castle was not his first victim, that made him all the more dangerous.

He never worked with the same team twice, that much they had gathered from the six or seven bodies that inevitably appeared after the kidnapping and subsequent man-hunt and payoff-rescue had taken place. This time however, this time there would be no payoff, no happy ending, because the NYPD had broken on of his cardinal rules. It was life or death for Alexis Castle and Beckett had the feeling that this man didn't care which way the coin fell.

Moving out from behind the pillar Esposito let loose three blasts from the shot-gun in rapid fire and from the moans, Beckett knew that at least two different people had been hit. However they had a small window of time to get to and save Alexis before she ended up with Lanie. Shots were returned, but they missed and it was in the beat of silence that Beckett heard it, the sound of a door opening and closing.

Without so much as a glance or a sign, Ryan and Esposito opened fire as Beckett darted for the door, providing her with cover to go to the one place they hadn't cleared, the roof. It was only one flight, a relief for the detective who was pushing her physical limits further than even those days in the Academy. She grabbed the door and tried to yank it open, but it didn't budge. It was locked.

Taking a step back Beckett brought the heel of her shoe to the keypad, smashing it to smithereens and was rewarded with a searing pain in her leg and the unmistakable click of the door unlocking. She pulled it open; ignoring the pain it caused her, and stepped out into the winter air. The wind bit and nipped at her exposed skin as she looked around the rooftop for any place to hide a hostage.

And she saw it.

And she saw him.

He was dressed in black and had the unmistakable limp of their prime suspect, Sargent Gregory Gains of the Marine Corps. His own daughter had been kidnapped and killed in the rescue attempt due to a federal blunder and revenge had been his occupation ever since. Making others feel the pain he felt as he watched his own daughter get murdered.

He hadn't seen her, yet, and Kate needed that advantage because if she lost it, her only chance was to shoot him. So she ran forwards as silently as possible, trying to cover as much ground as she could before he noticed her. They were heading for a small rooftop pigeon coop, locked from the outside with a thick chain and lined with bulletproof glass. Still unseen Beckett watched as he held the gun with one hand and pulled the key from around his neck with the other. The detective waited for the exact moment that the chains were unlocked to raise her gun and shout "NYPD, put your hands in the air!"

Her gun was leveled at his chest but even so he moved with such speed that she couldn't even get a shot off before his gun, a semi-automatic pistol, was now aimed at her head "How about you put your gun down." He said, utterly nonplussed at the situation.

"You know I can't do that." Beckett said, not sure why she was following the normal channels of hostage negation with this loon. It hadn't worked the last time she had done it, but Castle, and eleven other hostages were safe and living their lives.

"I think you can detective. Think about it" he continued, opening the door with one hand and keeping the gun aimed at her "You put the gun down, handcuff yourself, I get the girl and vanish into the sunset."

"Not gunna happen and you know that. You want this to end up as some sort of fire fight where you go down a broken hero because of what happened to your daughter." Beckett said, edging forward slightly knowing that Gains' attention was focused on something else for the moment.

"No." he said, a flicker of emotion playing across his face "I want people to understand."

Beckett let out a harsh laugh "Understand what Greg? What is there to understand about this situation? They won't understand how you feel, how it felt to have your daughters life ripped from you, because of something the police did. They won't feel that, at all and do you know why? Because the police aren't in the wrong here, you are, anything that may or may not happen to this girl, it isn't our fault. You're not going to make this family resent the NYPD because we didn't do anything wrong."

He seemed to be struggling to understand this, the logic she had presented clearly making some sort of sense. And just as she thought it had worked, and his arm had twitched downwards, he shook his head "You're lying." He yelled and pulled Alexis out of the abandoned pigeon coop.

It was the first time the detective had seen the younger Castle in the two days that she had been missing and if not for the strip duct tape across her mouth and those biding her wrists together, she looked okay. But that was only at first glance. As the red head was dragged in front of her kidnapper to serve as some sort of human shield, Beckett saw the signs. Exhaustion, dehydration, hunger, but most apparent, a sort of suppressed terror.

"Where are you going to go?" Beckett asked, moving in unison with the kidnapper as he tried to make his way to an escape.

His options however, were limited. His back was to the door he had come up and Beckett stood in between him and the second set of stairs. Even if he did make it to a staircase, Esposito and Ryan were, hopefully waiting and ready. But none of it was for certain, they didn't have SWAT as backup and Castle was all but handcuffed to the steering wheel of Beckett's car.

"_What?" Castle asked, turning to look at his partner, disbelief clouding his eyes as he comprehended her request "No way, I'm not staying here."_

_Beckett turned to look at the man she had grown to care about more than ever anticipated "Rick" she said, looking into his eyes "I know you want to come with me, I know you want to get Alexis back. But this guy, he wants to see the parents as upset and angry as he is. If you're there, if he sees your reaction he has no reason to keep Alexis alive anymore." _

_Castle wasn't buying it and as such he reached into the back seat and grabbed his Kevlar vest. Kate placed a hand on his wrist "Do you trust me?" she asked, once again meeting his gaze. _

"_Of course." He replied without hesitation _

"_Then let me do my job and get your daughter back." _

_He let out a sigh; a long, resigned sigh but he nodded "Bring her back to me." He said, more serious than Beckett had ever known him to be. _

"Put your gun down Detective." Gains ordered, shifting the gun from the detective to Alexis "Or else I will shoot her."

Beckett hesitated, Alexis couldn't die here because the only way that life would return to normal would be if she returned to her father. And Beckett didn't care how it happened, or what it took to make that happen. The detective met the gaze of the teenager and saw something in her eyes, something that reminded the detective why this girl was related to Richard Castle, fight.

If it was anyone else, Beckett would have expected them to be too paralyzed by terror to do what happened next, but this was a Castle she was dealing with. Ordinary didn't really suit them. Beckett watched as Alexis brought her left foot up, simultaneously the detective took a step towards Gains continuing to watch as if in slow motion the teen slammed her foot down and into her captors shin.

The red head dove to the ground as a shot went off, and for a moment Kate found herself in the cemetery, Castle leaning over her, pouring out his soul. But it was only a flash and then she herself standing in front of the girl, gun still leveled at Gains' head. However she had made one mistake, she had come too close and now Gains had the height, weight and combat advantage.

Getting off one shot before his foot sent the gun flying out of the detective's hand had been pure luck and as Beckett prepared herself for a fight she yelled for Alexis to run. And from the flutter of motion out of the corner of her eye the teen was complying. But then the wind was knocked out of Beckets chest with a particularly violent blow to the stomach.

She stumbled backwards knowing now that her fate rested in her ability to hold off this man from killing her and Esposito and Ryan's ability to read minds. Before she could react however his arms were around her waist and he was hoisting her into the air. Knowing that flying off the building was probably his next idea Beckett did the one thing that made sense.

She bit him.

He let out a howl of agony as her teeth sliced through his fleshy earlobe and she tasted the sour metal of blood. Thrusting her knee into his stomach Beckett found his grip loosening from around her waist and she squirmed out of his grip, grabbing the knife she had seen on his waistband as she did so.

Gains brought a hand to his ear and wiped the blood away and as Beckett turned away from the edge of the building, he reached out for her arm. He got lucky and she felt more pain as his hand wrapped around her wrist and squeezed. Her arm exploded in pain at the combination of the bullet would and Gain's hand. In one motion Beckett brought the knife up and buried it in his chest. She felt the pressure leave her wrist and watched as he stumbled backwards. Backwards towards the edge.

He scrambled for his footing before, in a last ditch effort to kill the detective who understood him, he charged towards her. The weight of him barreling into her sent Beckett to the floor and no matter how she tried, she couldn't get him off of her. Hot blood dripped down onto her face, onto her chest and onto her arms. He wrapped one hand around her throat, and using the other he pinned her wounded arm to the rooftop.

She couldn't breath.

She couldn't move.

She couldn't save herself.

Again.

Again she found herself dying at the hands of another.

Again she found herself wanting to see his face, the last image permanently etched into her soul before she slipped into the abyss.

Again she found herself wishing she had told him, wishing she had the courage to love him.

Wishing she hadn't been so broken.

And it was as the last dregs of pure, sweet Oxygen left her lungs Kate Beckett concluded, that fight as she did, she could not escape death.

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><p><em>Hi there. <em>

_I suppose the questions are: _

_Will Beckett survive? _

_Did Alexis make it off the roof? _

_And did Castle really stay put in the car? _

_R&R is appreciated, _

_LogicBomb.32_


	2. Almost

**Title: Where the Lines Overlap **

**Author: LogicBomb.32**

**Ships: Caskett **

**Summary: And it is the last of these three that force her up the stairs, one agonizing level after the next because she knows that the pain she feels now will be nothing compared to that of losing Alexis. Castle as she knows him will never be the same.**

**Authors Note: The second part has arrived, posted before the airing of Castle so there are no spoilers as to my own personal opinions. I **_**must **_**thank the people who reviewed the last chapter-lazerwolf314, Rita Tutschulte, Anon Reader, me, nahbois68, jjship, WhoKnows1125, Castlewriter16, Scarletblusssh, LadyAilith and cclms- you are all amazing.**

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><p>Castle had never been very good at listening to directions but something about the way Kate had looked at him as she asked <em>"Do you trust me?"<em> that was forcing him to remain in the passenger seat. His seat he corrected, because if he was being honest with himself who else sat here?

No one.

So it was his seat.

He tapped his fingers against he dashboard.

He tapped his fingers on the stick shift.

He reclined his seat and brought it back up.

Sitting was not what he did best (unless he was writing), sitting while Detective Beckett and two other people he trusted with his life, were rescuing his daughter, it was nearly impossible. But he was managing.

Until, he heard the gunshots.

The silence of the warehouse district only served to amplify the explosion and instinctively Castle ducked, raising his hands half into the air. When silence fell a few seconds later he looked around the car and his eyes landed on the glove compartment. A small smile played at the edges of his lips as he remembered the last time he had opened this hatch. Last time he had ended up with a gun to his head and the biggest adrenaline rush of his life.

He figured this time he would be safe from getting handcuffed.

Flipping open the glove compartment he sighed when he saw that is was void of a gun, or any weapon of that matter. This perplexed him because as many mysteries as he had written, his cops always had a backup weapon stashed in the car. It seemed like a pretty good idea for Derrick Storm, Nikki Heat as well, so why not Beckett?

He slid over into the drivers seat to gain some perspective and immediately found himself slightly closer to the wheel than he would like. However not to face the wrath of Beckett, he avoided adjusting the position. But then, as he had just given up hope of ever finding her spare weapon, he realized where it was. Reaching under the seat he felt the bar spanning the underside that would adjust the chair, but just behind that…he grinned.

Pulling the gun clean from the underbelly of the driver seat Castle allowed himself a small grin of triumph. But it didn't last long, a much louder hail of gunfire echoed above him and this time the impulse to discover and help were unavoidable. He clambered out of the car just as he made to swipe the keys from ignition he pulled the clip from the gun.

A brief moment of clarity and a vision of him being arraigned for murder had reminded him that he was not an NYPD detective and any injuries sustained by anyone at the hand of this gun would be his fault. One bullet, for self defense, but worst came to worst he could run a mean zig-zag.

He took off for the warehouse, gunfire more audible by the second as he pounded up one flight, two flights, three flights and just when he was sure his lungs would burst, he arrived at the fourth flight. Above him he heard the pounding of a heeled foot on concrete and the slamming of a door, the roof, he noted. Part of him wanted to follow Beckett upstairs, however a larger part of him still remembered that he was a distraction for her, she felt the unconscious need to protect him and as such her full attention would not be fully focused on the main goal: rescuing Alexis.

Alexis.

His little girl.

For all his composure and suppression skills Castle was beginning to feel the strain on his mental state. Alexis could already be dead, or dying, and what had he done to help her? Not a damn thing. He had sat on his hands, almost begging Kate to let him help but understanding that her presence on the case was enough breach or protocol. But now, now he felt more helpless than before. Everyone was doing things, helpful, productive things, and him?

He was standing in a warehouse staircase, with a empty nine mil tucked into the back of his pants.

He couldn't fail Alexis like this.

But he wasn't in one of his books, he couldn't' write this ending. This was reality, harsh, cruel, unsympathetic reality and it didn't give a rats ass about his emotions or livelihood. The door beside him was flung open and he barely had time to raise his hands as he found himself facing the business end of Ryan's gun "Is she?" he asked, his voice cracking.

"No." Ryan replied, but he didn't stop moving, clearly there was something else going on.

Wordlessly Castle followed the officer he so trusted up the stairs, but before they could reach halfway up the flight, the sound of the door being forced open echoed around the stairwell. Ryan raised his gun, ready for whomever would be coming down the stairs and Castle too braced himself, his hand twitching for behind his back. But in a flash of red hair and silver duct tape Kevin Ryan found himself moving sideways so that Alexis Castle could be reunited with her father.

Castle however seemed to take a second or two longer to figure out who had run into him. But as soon as he did "Alexis." He breathed a sigh of relief and a few tears escaping as he clutched his daughter to his chest.

It was as there was no response Castle looked down at his daughter and saw the duct tape. Gingerly he removed the sliver strip from her face and asked "Are you okay?"

"Beckett." Was the first thing that Alexis said.

"What?" Ryan and Castle asked at the same time.

"She's" Alexis broke into a fit of coughing and her father patted her on the back before she continued "Fighting that-that" she started to stutter, the relief of being free overcast by the memories of her captor "That guy." She settled on "And he's huge and not that Beckett can't handle herself, but-"

The sounds of the S.W.A.T. teams rather late arrival was announced by the thudding of boots on stairs and Esposito appearing on the landing below them "In here!" he called, waving in the team. Glancing up at Ryan he asked "Where's Beckett?"

Alexis, shaken as she was, let out a small exclamation "That's what I'm saying. Guy's this guys is massive and-"

But Ryan had already moved, Esposito following behind him. And the teen didn't miss the suppressed twitch of her father's muscles "Go." She said, turning to look at the S.W.A.T. team leader that was approaching them "I'll be fine." She said, holding out her arms for the tape to be cut away.

But still Castle shook his head, he wanted to make sure Beckett was alright but right now, right now all he wanted to do was make sure Alexis was alright "Dad." She said, giving him _that look_, the one that reminded who was the adult in their family "Go." She all but ordered.

Castle nodded, giving his daughter one last squeeze before he turned and made his way up the stairs. As he ran through the doorway and onto the roof he noted the smashed keypad and for a brief moment he wondered if Beckett had been the one to smash it. The image of her shattering the electronic device with a single blow from a well-toned leg was, in a word, sexy.

Stepping onto the Castle flinched slightly at the feel of the cold air washing over him, in the heat of the moment he had forgotten how cold it actually was outside. It was oddly quite on the roof, or maybe it was the wind whipping the sounds of the ongoing commotion away from him. Scanning the flat expanse Castle quickly spotted the struggle.

And his heart froze.

Gregory Gains was holding a limp Beckett shaped outline against his chest, a gun pressing firmly into her temple. Esposito had shed his shot-gun in favor of a more accurate weapon, his Glock 9mm, which was aimed squarely at Gains' forehead, or what was visible of it anyway. Ryan looked much like his partner, Glock 9mm held in his hands but his line of sight was not so clear. If he were to fire the bullet would first travel through Beckett and then make contact with Gains'. Essentially, if nothing else changed, Ryan was useless.

From Castle's awkward distance it seemed that Beckett was unconscious which raised the question how? And, forcing this thought away, was it worse?

Castle couldn't imagine a dead Beckett; he had come so close to that once before that if it actually happened, he might never recover. Loving Kate was hard enough, loving Kate in secret was even harder, but loving someone who is dead…that was easy. And Castle didn't like easy, he liked a challenge, he liked complicated and he liked Beckett, alive.

Edging slowly closer Castle finally came within earshot of the conversation, if you could call Esposito trying to talk Gains' out of shooting Beckett a conversation. It was rather one-sided "-shoot her?" Esposito was asking as Castle finally heard.

Gains' smirked and shrugged, talking a half-step back towards the edge of the building "Four counts of kidnapping, twelve counts of murder, it all adds up to life in prison, doesn't matter which state I'm being tried in. So what's adding one more murder to that rap sheet?"

He took another half step back.

"A guy like you?" Esposito responded "You could get it real comfortable in prison, big, tough, you could make anyone you wanted like your shoes. But if you shoot a cop, naw man" he continued shaking his head "your life will be hell. They say there's a special place in Rikers for cop killers. You know what that place is? I'll tell you. It's called solitary confinement."

Gains laughed, taking another step back which now brought him uncomfortable close to the edge for Castle's liking. Not that it really mattered, he could only stand and watch as Esposito and Ryan tried to talk this guy down. But where was S.W.A.T. with the sniper angle?

"You think this is normal solitary?" Esposito asked "They keep oyu in the dark for twenty three hours a day, food brought at different times so you don't know when it's been a day or a week. And your hour in the yard, it's in a concrete box with no windows and only one flickering light. Not a free weight or basketball in sight, does that sound like fun to you?"

And for the first time Esposito saw a flicker of fear in the mans eyes, the prospect of spending the rest of his life in complete solitude and silence was a bleak one, something he feared "But if you let that cop go, it's into the general population, no solitary, no darkness, meals at the regular times."

But Gains shook his head, a wild look in his eyes that told the detective that he was loosing the man, and fast "You know what they do to kiddie killers in there." Gains stated "Either way I'm screwed."

This statement, the finality in his voice, Castle knew what was about to happen before it did "No!" he shouted, taking a step forward at the same time that Gains pushed himself backwards.

Suicide had been the former Marines plan from the start, the moment he had seen that detective out of the corner of his eye, he had known. He maybe though and built but he wouldn't last a day in prison and there was no way he was going to prove that right. And so he pushed himself into the free space, falling, plummeting, dying and yet, he didn't mind. At least now he could be with his angel.

And as his body disappeared from Castle's line of sight, his heart dropped, his world moved into slow motion and his eyes scanned the impeding darkness for not two, but three figures. He needed there to be three figures by the edge of that rooftop, there had to be three figures.

And there was.

Words could no describe the emotions he felt, seeing Beckett lying there on the gravel rooftop, couching and wheezing, trying to garner enough strength to pull herself to her feet.

It almost compared to seeing his daughter alive and in his arms.

Almost.

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><p><em>Because the possibility that you are reading this after the episode of Castle that aired this evening is strong (possibly to fill some unmet desires) I will ask, thoughts on tonight's airing? I know that we all were up in a ruckus because of the hand touching that was going on. <em>

_I sincerely hope that it meets, or exceeds our expectations._

_Oh, and there will be a third part to this. _

_Thanks, as always, _

_Logicbomb.32_


End file.
